Dec 04, 2018

Skinner — New ‘Don’t Have Feelings, Don’t Make A Scene’ Book With Free Print

The wicked one has just released a new art book filled with insane paintings, gnarly toys and process shots. Skinner’sDon’t Have Feelings, Don’t Make A Sceneart book from the rad folks at Last Gasp brings 200+ pages of the artists dark, psychedelic vision. The book is available now directly from Skinner’s web shop for $40. And… Skinner being Skinner, the first 300 copies purchased from his site include a free, signed 8x10” print. If your coffee table game is lagging, punch it up a few notches with this intense new volume.

Oct 27, 2016

Coarse – Cold Ways Book Pre-Order

Coarse’s remarkable Permanent Guest featuring Raccoon dutifully dragging Fish—lounging in his tub—was drawn from a saga that had yet been told at the time of the toy’s release. Fast forward to now with the impending release of Cold Ways, an illustrated book from Coarse detailing the tortured story of the fateful day Raccoon met fish, an event that forever altered him. The book [8”x10”, 73 pages] features a story written by LA-based writer Andrew Greenberg and 30+ illustrations by Sven Waschk. The Cold Ways hardcover w/dust jacket is available for pre-order from Coarse HKG for 75 HKD [~ US$35] + s/h. The book is slated to ship in November. If you’re in LA, Book Soup on Sunset apparently has it.

Sep 04, 2016

Junko Mizuno x Poposition Press – Triad Pop-Up Book (9.13)

Update: Added Pricing

Poposition Press, the folks who brought you the The Pop Up Art Book (2015) featuring 2.5D versions of street/pop surrealist artists has teamed up with Junko Mizuno for the upcoming Triad. The standard edition of Triad ($50)will feature five pop-up spreads based on Junko’s original paintings: Ocean, Serpent, Triptych, Mansion and Tree. The cover features a wraparound version of the Dawn image with foil treatments on the cover and spine. A special laser-etched acrylic slipcase will be available as an add-on.

Triad will also be available in a special edition (100 pieces, $250) featuring the five spreads featured in the standard edition plus a special ‘ink’ edition of Triptych, a pull-out poster featuring Dawn/Night, the previously mentioned laser-etched acrylic slipcase, and will be signed and numbered by the artist.

Both the standard and special editions of Junko Mizuno’s Triad will be available for preorder on Tuesday, September 13 2016 over at Poposition.com. The pop-ups look great – a must for Junko fans. Can’t wait to check it out.

Sep 03, 2016

Dabsmyla – Before & Further Book Singing in LA (9.10)

The dynamic duo Dabsmyla will be signing their brand new Before & Further book in LA on Saturday September 10th 2016 at Delicious Pizza. The book focuses on their epic 2015 show in which they took over a vintage building on furniture maker Modernica’s DTLA campus – painted it outside and inside and filled it with their amazing and evolving art. Limited to 2500 pieces, the book includes 16 pages of studies and drawings made for the exhibition. New drawings will also be available at the event. Finally, score a free slice with each book purchase.

Dabsmyla – Before & Further Book SigningSaturday September 10, 2016 (2-6 PM)

Jan 22, 2016

Buff Monster – ‘Stay Melty’ Book Signing at Gr2 (1.30)

Buff Monster will be back in LA to sign his brand-newStay Melty book at Giant Robot 2 on Saturday, January 30th from 2 to 3 PM. Published by Gingko Press, the 224-page volume ($30) puts the wide spectrum of the Pink One’s art at your finger tips. Street Art, Murals, Paintings, Prints, Melty Misfits sticker trading cards Toys and more-- it’s all documented in 600+ photos shot by Buff Monster himself including plenty of behind-the-scenes process imagery.

Dec 10, 2014

The Pop-Up Art Book Kickstarter Now Live!

We last talked about the Pop-Up Art Book last August (HERE) and now the folks over at Poposition Press has finally begun their Kickstarter campaign to get things rolling! This fun and unique approach to 2D art will feature artwork by Angry Woebots, Tara McPherson, Skinner, Kozyndan, Junko Mizuno and Jim Mahfood. This project is well on their way to reaching their goals, but this may be the best time for you to get your hands on this book. One of the pledges will save you a whopping $15 from the retail price of $60. There are also a number of pledges you may want to consider as well, such as the special Artist Editions, which feature a bonus pop-up page of one of the artists, signature, and special cover. Check out the campaign HERE and help support a great project!

Aug 07, 2014

The Pop Up Art Book is the latest pop up project Rosston of ROSSTAMICAH has taken on! This art book brings some of your favorite artists into a different perspective, not so much the 2D in their artwork or 3D in their toys, but something entirely new! The artists partaking in this project include: Angry Woebots, Jim Mahfood, Junko Mizuno, kozyndan, Skinner and Tara McPherson. The book is still in the works and they plan on putting together a Kickstarter to help fund the project sometime in October with a estimated delivery date of Spring 2015.

There will be three versions of this book available, the Normal edition will be of a large run and will feature one pop up page from each of the artists. The Artist editions will feature a special second pop up page and inner book leaf leaf with artist signature. It will also contain a special die cut cover featuring the second artist edition page artwork and is limited to 10 per artist. Then there is the Master Edition, which is super limited and will feature all 12 pages and case bound with hand embellished cover and inner page signatures from each artist.

May 08, 2014

Mini Magellan –- Jade Stars: The Great Race, Illustrated by Jerome Lu

You might be familiar with the Chinese Zodiac and Lunar Calendar which mark 2014 as the ‘Year of the Horse’. But do you know how each of the twelve animals earned that honor? To answer that question, Mini Magellan has released Jade Stars: The Great Race, a children’s book illustrated by Jerome Lu and written by Charles Huang and Stacey Hirata which presents the classic tale in a fun, fresh, & kid friendly way. The hard-cover book ($17.99) unfolds the Jade Emperor’s fabled race over 24 full-color pages.

To bring Jerome’s versions of the Chinese Zodiac characters to life, Mini Magellan asked Patty Varoiba (Fat Rabbit Farm) to create large plush toys as a companion to the book. Currently, there are three plushies – Year of the Horse (17”), Year of the Snake (14”), and Year of the Ram (19”), each with a suggested retail of $59.99. If your birth year animal hasn’t been given the plush treatment yet, don’t worry; Mini Magellan is planning to create plush versions of all twelve of the Chinese Zodiac animals.

If you have a little one, Jade Stars: The Great Race will make a fine and fun addition to his or her growing library. Having had a chance to 'play with the Year of the Snake plush, the oversized, detailed, =undeniably cute, made in the USA plush is easy to recommend. The book and the plush toys are available now from MiniMagellan.com and should soon be available at retailers around the country.

We had a chance to take a look at a review copy and came away impressed. With artist spreads covering at least four pages (or more) filled with excellent color photography, ‘We Are Indie Toys!’ is a great place for those looking to showcase the creativity and variety of indie resin toys as well as the medium’s sky high potential for reducing the barrier to toy making for talented and motivated creators. If you hand someone this book and they don’t immediately understand the magical pull of art toys – they never will.

What’s a little less successful in our opinion, is the book’s seemingly forced focus on the process artists use to ‘turn their unique ideas into one-of-a-kind collectibles’. While each artist provides helpful tips or tricks they’ve discovered and incorporated into their work practice as well as behind-the-scenes photos of molds and such, the advice and info is not detailed nor systematic enough for true beginners. While the book is a great overview of the state of the art in independent resin toys, it is not really a good starting point for learning the ins and outs of the process of creating them.

That said, we highly recommend ‘We are Indie Toys!’ by Louis Bou for its excellent coverage of top resin toy artists and their amazing creations.

Feb 24, 2014

Dacosta Bayley – March of Robots Book + Instagram Challenge

Dacosta Bayley, artist/toy creator (DCTO and more)/robot nerd, has put together a new book, ‘March of Robots’. The book features 80 pages of Dacosta’s robot illustrations including some process sketches and augmented reality portions which can be viewed as 3D models via an app on your phone/tablet. Dacosta will be launching a kickstarter campaign for March of the Robots on wait for it … March 1st. He will also be starting a month long instagram challenge – one original robot drawing per day, and asking others to join in as well. To find out more about the project – check out marchofrobots.com. We’ll be sure to update you once the kickstarter goes live.

Jan 28, 2014

Juan Muniz – ‘Da Bunny Trail’ Book Set on Kickstarter

Las Vegas-based artist Juan Muniz has just launched a Kickstarter campaign for his ‘Da Bunny Trail’ 2-book set featuring his signature character, Felipe the Bunny. The book set features a glossy 50-page art book with brand-new illustrations exclusive to the project and a coloring book version of the art book. The campaign is raising money to produce the books as well as to help ensure that Juan will be able to offer them at both SDCC and NYCC.

There are quite a few rewards including exclusive bookmarks, removable wall graphics, Tees and at the higher end of the scale OG sketches and paintings. At the $45 level, you’ll get both volumes – the art book and the coloring book. Head on over to the Da Bunny Trail Kickstarter page to check it all out. The books should ship in June.

Oct 17, 2013

Brian McCarty -- War-Toys Vol 1. Book + NYC Exhibition (11.5)

For the past several years, toy photographer extraordinaire Brian McCarty has been travelling to warn torn regions to explore and document children’s experiences of armed conflict as part of his ‘War-Toys’ project. The project draws its name from the narrative process used to engage children in which they create drawings and pose toys to relate their experiences of war in a manner that reduces stigma or emotional barriers.

Having completed the first phase of his project in Israel and the Gaza strip, Brian has compiled the work into his new War-Toys Vol 1. Book and is about to open a War-Toys exhibit (11.5) in NYC at the Peanut Underground curated by Tinca Art.

Available in both a regular ($32) and a special edition ($125), the 80 page book features 75 photographs and illustrations relating children’s memories of war as well as an introduction in English, Arabic, and Hebrew; essays by renowned expressive therapy experts Dr. Judith Rubin and Dr. Julia Byers; and a narrative account of the production of the project. Limited to 50 books, the special edition features a special foil stamped cover, signed/numbered title page, a pewter toy artifact (34 mm) molded by Pretty in Plastic of the actual plastic army man toy used in the Wall Shooting photograph, a signed/numbered 5” x 7” Wall Shooting Print and a certificate of authenticity. Both versions of the book are available for pre-order on Brian McCarty’s site. The book will be released on November 12th.

Jul 29, 2013

Martin Hsu - New ‘Kinfolk’ Book

Martin Hsu has just released his brand-new, self-published ‘Kinfolk’ book. The new 66 page hard-cover volume features his artwork from 2010 through 2013. Limited to 500 signed/numbered pieces, Kinfolk (w/bonus sticker) is available now from Martin’s webshop for $24.95 (+ s/h). The book is a convenient, affordable way to get to know Martin’s artwork beyond his toys better or to introduce a friend to his paintings.

May 21, 2012

Review: ‘The Art of Luke Chueh: Bearing the Unbearable’

It’s here. Well, almost. ‘The Art of Luke Chueh: Bearing the Unbearable’ from Titan Books officially releases in early-mid June depending on which release date you go by. I received a promo copy today, and I’ve posted up a review over on Dailydujour along with a photo gallery featuring a look inside the book. In case you just want to cut to the chase, yes it’s a very good book – a well-designed presentation of Luke’s art.

Apr 05, 2012

Awaiting ‘The Art of Luke Chueh : Bearing the Unbearable’

Luke Chueh’s first monograph, ‘The Art of Luke Chueh: Bearing the Unbearable’ ($34.95)from Gallery 1988 / Titan Books is almost here for all to enjoy. If the official release date of June 1st holds up, the wait is down to a couple of months. The 196 page volume will offer a look back at Luke’s first seven years of work including sketches and commentary from gallerists, curators and collectors about his impact. We know the art’s going to be on point and from Titan’s previous work we’re confident that book will be beautifully executed at a form-factor that does the art justice (see Luke’s instragram photo above). Now the question is… the regular version or the special collectors’ edition… ?

Aug 25, 2011

Pink Ghost – Chubby Book Series 3 (09.16)

Pink Ghost are proud to present to you their all new Artist Chubby Book Series 3, which features cover artwork by Kukula, Danny Brito, and Allison Cole. Each 6”x"6”x2” Chubby Book includes 10 Artist postcards within the 250 pages (100 lined + 150 sketch pages), which you can use for notes, journal entries, and sketches. You will find these available beginning on Friday, September 16th through Pink Ghost or other Chubby Book Retailers for $21.95.

Jun 07, 2011

Medicom Toy Manual 2

To celebrate their 15th Anniversary, Medicom is about to release ‘Toy Manual 2’, a retrospective of their toy mastery. This is a follow-up to the OG Toy Manual from 2010. It *appears* that Toy Manual 2 includes an exclusive ‘Multi-Color [email protected]’. Toy Manual 2 drops in late for July for ~ $48. Interestingly, Medicom also released a [email protected] Book to go along with the first Toy Manual. Perhaps there’s a [email protected] Book 2 in the works as well. If you don’t read Japanese, your best bet for Toy Manual # 2 may be Otacute as it’s geared towards English speaking collectors. [Image: Otacute]

Sep 08, 2010

Brian McCarty: Art-Toys Signing @ La Luz De Jesus (9.9)

Toy photographer extraordinaire Brian McCarty will be signing his new Art-Toys book (Baby Tattoo) on Thursday, September 9th @ La Luz De Jesus from 6-9 PM. The book documents McCarty’s body of work capturing the essence of toys (designer, mainstream and otherwise) through over 100 full-color toy portraits as well his recollection of the shoots. Come on out, meet the man behind the lens and pick-up a signed copy.

Aug 17, 2010

Martin Hsu -- ‘Multigrain’ Book Signing @ GR2 (8.29)

Martin Hsu will be at Giant Robot 2 on Sunday August 29th 2010 (3-5 PM) in support of his new fine art book, Multigrain. Limited to 500 copies, the 58-page hardcover book collects his favorite paintings from the past few years. Printed by a small mom and pop press in Taiwan, the new volume looks to be a great addition to any art library or coffee table.

Jul 21, 2010

Brian McCarty – “Art-Toys” Signing and Release @ SDCC

Look up “Toy Photography” in an encyclopedia and I’m pretty sure you’ll see a picture of Brian McCarty. Brian takes amazing photos of toys in physical environments that capture and bring out their essence and personalities. After a long development period, Brian’s new ‘Art-Toys’ hardcover (240 pgs) from Baby Tattoo books collects his sweet toy photos as well as the process that goes into transporting the viewer into the toy’s world.

In addition to the standard edition ($40), there’s also a very nice special edition ($95). The special edition comes with a swanky clear slip-cover, a title-free cover (very cool) and the title page is signed by a large number of the artists whose toys are featured in the book.

When you look through the photos of the signing, you’ll no doubt notice the books with doodles on the covers. These are the artist-customized ‘misfit’ copies. Basically a small percentage of the 600 Special Edition books have covers that were damaged in shipping. When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade, and when life mars the cover of an awesome art book, you cover the defects with what else, more awesome art! Where do you get the misfit copies ? At SDCC in the Baby Tattoo booth (#) Another thing you’ll likely notice is the couple of books that have serious doodling on the title page. Consider it an amazing bonus for a few lucky collectors.

Speaking of SDCC, Brian will be signing ‘Art-Toys’ throughout the convention. Here’s the full run-down:

Apr 28, 2010

Paul Budnitz – I Am Plastic, Too

While I Am Plastic, Kidrobot’s first collected book about designer vinyl took some heat from some collectors it was noteworthy in part because of the broad scope of toys selected – not just western but also a nice mix of eastern figures. So we’ve been curious about the anticipated follow-up titled – I Am Plastic, Too. Kidrobot front man Paul Budnitz recently revealed this image from the book (cover? or just promo?) featuring a Thomas Han 8” Painkiller Dunny.

The book is subtitled – “the next generation of designer toys” which we assume means it features toys since the publication of the first book (late ‘06). This one is chock full of photos/illustrations – 1000 or so. As for a shipping date for this one? Budnitz leaves it as ‘fall’ while the publisher Abrams indicates October 1st, 2010. The 368 page hardcover volume is available for pre-order now and has a suggested retail of $45 (Amazon is cheaper, of course).

Mar 30, 2010

DGPH – Journey to Molestown @ Gallery 1988 SF (4.1)

Argentinian design house DGPH (Martin Lowenstein, Diego Vaisberg, and Andres Vaisber) will open their Journey to Molestown exhibition @ Gallery 1988 SF this Thursday, April 1st (7-10 PM). This is essentially two shows in one – one wall DGPH will be showing roughly 90 pieces of varying sizes. The other wall will feature one-off prints from DGPH’s extremely cool ARK Project book which collects the work of 210 international artists, each contributing an image of a different animal native to their country/region. Proceeds from the sales of these prints will be donated to the World Wildlife Fund.

Dec 16, 2009

Buff Monster – Life is Sweet Signing in SF (12.19)

Buff Monster will be signing his ‘Life is Sweet’ art book @ Giant Robot SF this Saturday, December 19th from 6:30 to 8:30 PM. Published by MINDstyle, the book features nearly every aspect of Buff’s art career from his wheat pasting days to his gallery work and his art toy releases.

Sep 17, 2009

Michael Lau x MINDstyle – Gardener Tenth Book

MINDstyle has just posted a behind-the-scenes look at the printing of Michael Lau’s new Gardener Tenth Book chronicling a decade of vinyl artistry. From behind-the-scenes material to a photographic collection detailing the preeminent Gardener series, this volume will prove to be a must have for experienced collectors as well as those looking to learn more about the godfather of urban vinyl.